Water and Earth
by dappersquid
Summary: A series of Kyalin ficlets and one shots based on prompts from tumblr
1. Not Okay

**Prompt: Kya comforts Lin post "Operation: Beifong"**

"I'm fine."

It felt like the hundredth time Lin had said that tonight since settling—_most_—of her family into the hotel that had become their defacto headquarters in Republic City.

At least 97 of those times had to be in response to Kya's concerns. Every time someone mentioned some new detail about their mission to Zaofu—how Lin had pushed Su out of the line of fire _again_, how they had been surrounded on all sides by Kuvira's forces, how Toph had casually named Lin's father—Kya had given her that look and asked how she was.

"It's almost morning," Lin reasoned. "The council will be convening in a few hours anyways."

She wondered if she could get away with cracking her aching back without Kya noticing; she settled further into the slump against her knees instead.

"But you should go home and get some sleep while you can. I have a feeling Kuvira's army's going to keep the healers busy despite whatever plan we come up with." She looked back over her shoulder at the woman leaned on the arm of her chair. There were dark circles under her eyes too. She looked about as tired as Lin felt. "Really, Kya. I'm okay."

Tired or not, Kya was on her feet and in front of her so quickly she didn't have time to do more than blink up at her in surprise.

"You're not _okay_. You're not _fine_." Kya's fingers cupped her chin and held her gaze. "And we _will_ talk about that—tomorrow or next week or next month or whenever the hell all this is over with."

Lin could only nod and swallow back the knot that had formed in her chest.

Nothing about what had happened in the last 24 hours was okay.

"But right now, you smell like an air bison," Kya added. "And I have never wanted you more. So you have two choices—either I start stripping your clothes off right here to see how badly you're not hurt or you come home with me to our bed."

A tired laugh pulled Lin's attention to the other side of the room before she could respond.

"Go home, Lin," Su teased. "Baatar's been traumatized enough for one day."

"You know I don't like heights, dear."


	2. Playing Hooky

As soon as she opened the door, she _knew_.

Someone was in her house.

She took two stealthy steps into the living room and listened.

Someone was in her sister's room. And they weren't being quiet about it.

Thieves obviously. Or maybe even the Agni Kai looking for payback.

She slipped across the room and readied her best fighting stance. She'd get a medal, maybe even a statue. She'd try to look stern, but benevolent in it.

She stomped her foot and the door shot open: "Freeze, you lily-livers! You're under arrest!"

There was screaming and a frantic tussle.

"Suyin! What the flameo!"

So much for that statue.

It was only Lin-clutching a sheet to her chest and turning bright red.

"Ouch! Watch your knee!"

Su's eyes narrowed at her sister and the wiggling lump under the sheet that soon revealed itself to be Kya.

"Spirits," Kya laughed. "I thought she was Toph."

Su allowed herself a smug smile before a book came hurtling towards her head.

"Get out!"

* * *

><p>"Why aren't you in school?!"<p>

If she were completely honest, Su would admit she was just a little frightened at how mad her sister currently was.

But Lin's tunic was buttoned up wrong and her hair looked a lot like their mom's did when she woke up in the morning.

"Why aren't _you_?" she shot back.

"I'm taking you back." Lin grabbed her elbow. "Now."

"No." She dug her heels in and didn't budge. "Let go!"

Lin's fingers were pinching and her feet were starting to slide across the floor.

She only had one card left to play, though she didn't like it.

"I'll tell Toph," she said evenly.

"And you'll be in trouble too."

Lin had a point-not that she thought their mom would particularly care that she'd been skipping school. She was more likely to get in trouble for snitching on her sister.

But Lin hadn't just been ditching.

"Not as much as you." She arched an eyebrow and looked squarely up at her sister. "Because you were having sex."

"Like you even know what that is." It was the tone Lin used when she told her she wasn't old enough to do something. She heard it a lot-like every day. But this time Lin wasn't as confident as she sounded because she let go of her arm.

Feeling braver, she countered: "I do. I've seen it a bunch."

And she had. The erotic art of Tong Li had been on display at the Republic City Museum of Modern Art for two weeks. It had certainly been educational-and a bit confusing as to what went where and why.

"What?" Kya was standing in the hall now watching them and rubbing at a red spot on her jaw.

"A whole room of it."

Kya got that same look on her face that Aunt Katara did.

"The gallery," Lin explained, rolling her eyes.

* * *

><p>"What will it take for you to keep quiet?" Lin asked.<p>

Su crossed her arms over her chest. She'd be stern, but benevolent.

"I want hair loopies."

Her sister and Kya exchanged a look then nodded.

_Finally_. For some reason, her mom and Aunt Katara got all uncomfortable when she asked for them and changed the subject.

She considered the rest of her demands.

"And your pro-bending trading cards-all of them," she told Lin. "And I'm not going to school tomorrow either."

* * *

><p>Su shuffled through the stack of brightly-drawn cards as she sat cross legged in front of Kya.<p>

The waterbender fixed one last tie into her hair and said, "Now you look just like a girl from the Southern Water Tribe."

"Kya," Lin warned. She'd been sulking on the couch for the last half hour.

"_Trading cards_, Lin?"

"They're collectors' items."

Su smiled.

She could get used to Kya hanging around her house.

**Prompt: Su catches Lin and Kya in the act.**


	3. Getting Lucky

**No prompt this time, just adding some Kyalin to the finale.**

"So what's a beautiful woman like you doing standing all alone while everyone else is out on the dance floor?"

The corner of Lin's mouth twitched.

She didn't even look in the interloper's direction before growling, "Date's in the bathroom powdering her nose."

A body settled too close to hers.

"Do I need to make a scene at a wedding I wasn't even invited to?"

The playful twitch turned into a full-blown smile when Lin turned her head to meet laughing, _wonderfully_ _familiar_, blue eyes.

"What're you doing here, Kya?"

She watched the water bender smile in return and carefully consider her answer.

"I left as soon as I heard that they'd been captured," Kya explained finally, glancing out at the dance floor where Huan was reluctantly being twirled by his mother. "But it isn't easy to get into Republic City these days."

"What's left of it."

Kya's smile faded and Lin wished she'd chosen her words more carefully. But the response was automatic. The extent of the damage to the city was still surreal.

"Are you—"

Lin cut her off before she could finish.

She wasn't exactly "okay" or "alright"—nor was she physically "hurt" any more than usual. The truth was that she hadn't had time to figure out exactly _what_ she was right now.

"Lin. I'm—"

She waved her hand to curtail the waterbender again and realized she was still holding a half-eaten kabob.

They'd talk about it all eventually—the city and the politics, Kuvira, and Toph and Khanto. They'd talk about _them_—but not now.

"I was just thinking I could use a little less . . . all this. Want to get out of here?"

"Technically I'm crashing anyways."

Lin threw the skewer down on the nearest table and grabbed Kya's hand.

"Come on."

* * *

><p>When the music from the band had faded to nothing more than a murmur, Lin let go of her hand and dropped down to the grass with a tired sigh.<p>

Kya could only stare.

It was like watching the sun set over the ocean.

Waves of golden light washed across the city, dancing across rooftops, glittering sharply here and there then disappearing.

"It's beautiful," Kya whispered.

It was frighteningly easy to let shadow hide the broken walls and to pretend the glitter was something more than broken glass.

"I know."

* * *

><p>They were sitting shoulder to shoulder when Lin broke the comfortable silence they had fallen into.<p>

"I'm sorry."

_"Hey_." Kya bumped her shoulder against Lin's. "_I_ came a long way to say that."

* * *

><p>The column of light reaching to the sky turned the night into a perpetual dusk.<p>

The earthbender's chin was tilted unconsciously in its direction, her eyes closed. With her head laying in Lin's lap, Kya watched as it cast strange, rippling shadows against Lin's cheek.

Her fingers flit against Lin's skin when she reached up to chase them.

"I'm never going to be good at staying in one place," she admitted.

Lin caught her hand, kissed her palm.

"I can't say when I'll be ready to retire."

Kya's hand dropped back to her side to trail lazily over the spikes of grass. Lin shifted beneath her, laying back against the ground with one arm folded beneath her head.

* * *

><p>She was almost lulled to sleep by the steady rise and fall of Lin's chest, by the subtle metallic scent that clung to her even when her uniform was put away, when Lin spoke again.<p>

"I have about a year of vacation time saved up. Have any suggestions on how I could spend it?"

The knot at Lin's waistband gave way to nimble fingers.

"I'll start making a list."

* * *

><p>Kya leaned back on her elbows and let the first rays of the sun warm her face.<p>

Beside her, Lin was fastening the last button on her tunic and scanning the ground around her.

Laughing, she roused herself to hand Lin her belt.

"Did I tell you how amazing you look in this?"

"A few hours ago you seemed to prefer me out of it."

"I've never seen it before." At Lin's raised eyebrow, she clarified: "_The outfit_."

"You can thank my niece. She picked it out. Half the city's rubble but the damn mall's still standing."

"Then there's hope."

* * *

><p>Maybe it was the fact that the city was still practically deserted that was disorienting her, but Kya could swear they were walking in the wrong direction.<p>

She pulled Lin closer as they walked arm-in-arm.

"Where are we going?" she finally asked.

"The island."

"Tired of me already?"

She stopped suddenly.

"Lin, I didn't even ask. Your house—"

"Is mostly fine. The windows were blown out. It's a little dusty right now—and not high on the list of priorities when it comes to things that need to be repaired in the city. I'm more concerned about clearing away the building that fell on headquarters."

She could have kept going, listing the myriad details of a cleanup that was going to take months, but Kya wound her fingers through hers and squeezed.

"We're staying with the airbenders. I'm sharing a room with my sister."

A week ago she couldn't have imagined herself saying that.

"And I thought the spirit portal was miraculous."

Obviously, neither could Kya.

* * *

><p>Her hand dropped to the small of Kya's back when Pema caught sight of them.<p>

"You two are just in time for breakfast," she beamed.

"Aunt Kya!"

Lin dodged out of the way as two short airbenders with sticky hands launched themselves at the woman beside her.

* * *

><p>"Pay up, Su." Bumi grinned at the woman sitting across from him and held out his hand. "I had 30 yuans on Lin getting lucky."<p>

"Sorry, Lin," her sister teased. "But who wouldn't take those odds?"

"I had faith," Bumi bragged. "Her theory was you'd burrowed your way into your office and started filing reports."

"You're both very funny this morning."

Lin took a careful sip of the just-this-side-of-too-hot tea that the acolytes made so well. She was happy to see her sister smiling again but Su really didn't have to look _so_ smug.

"You need to find somewhere else to sleep tonight, Su."


	4. Campfire Tales

_Prompt: sex in public_

**Campfire Tales**

Lin had fallen into a light doze when a body slipped under the woolen blanket to fit itself along hers.

"Go back to your own bedroll, Tenzin," she mumbled. "Kya will hear."

The warm puff of air exhaled next to her ear, the soft laugh that followed, were far too feminine—and familiar—to belong to the air bender.

"You know I won't be put off by disturbing images of my brother."

As proof, Kya's threw her arm over Lin's waist, drawing her even closer and planting a lazy kiss on the back of her neck.

"Should be," Lin warned. "He's only a few feet away."

In fact, the entire "Team Avatar" was sleeping around the slowly dying camp fire tonight, a necessary stop over on their trip deeper into the Earth Kingdom.

She'd already made the concession to discard most of her uniform for the night (although the metal plates were still within arm's reach); cuddling with her partner was a step too far. Still, she should have known, she chided herself, that telling Kya no, that they could sleep a few feet apart for one night, would all but guarantee the water bender would worm her way next to her before sunrise.

"I've been thinking," Kya whispered.

Lin didn't respond. Instead she settled Kya's arm more comfortably over her hip, tucking it beneath her own, and closed her eyes again.

"We've never been camping alone."

Kya's quiet rambling at her ear, the feel of Kya curled against her, warm and soft, were lulling Lin back to sleep. She'd make sure Kya went back to her own spot before morning, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to let her stay here for a while.

"Lin."

Kya's voice seemed to call for some response; Lin's "Hmm?" may have been out loud or just in her tired unconscious.

"You could literally fuck me into the ground but we've never been camping alone."

Lin's eyes opened.

She should have been scanning the camp to see if anyone was now awake and staring in slack-jawed horror in their direction. Instead she was picturing Kya on all fours with her knees in the dirt and goose bumps down her spine—tangling her fingers in all that silver hair and burying the others deep in—

Kya's lips moving down her neck to her shoulder, teeth and tongue carefully worrying the skin there, thumb and forefinger rolling over a nipple and creating such maddening friction against the fabric of her shirt until—

A very real shiver arched down her spine.

Lin's hand clutched at Kya's until the wayward fingers stilled over her breast.

She tried to will her pulse to a less frantic rate but she felt Kya smile against her shoulder and knew she hadn't succeeded.

They should stop. It wasn't dignified. They were grown women, not horny teenagers. She arrested people in the park for this kind of thing.

It could wait until they were alone, with no one around for miles. Just the bite of the night air on her back and Kya's fevered skin beneath her-

Lin sighed and untied her pants.

* * *

><p>"It's a deal then," Kya teased—a deal sealed by Kya's hand cupping her mound, her middle finger, then, almost idly gliding through the warm wetness that was already pooling there.<p>

Lin nodded, as a contented hum vibrated next to her ear, followed by her name: "_My Lin.__" _

The sound made something in her chest clinch, her body hitch towards the other woman.

Kya's finger dipped, teasing between her folds, then trailing up, barely brushing the hard knot of nerves starting to throb at her center.

Each stroke that followed was shallow and soft, and frustrating.

Lin bit her lip to hold back a groan. She flexed her thighs around Kya's hand and jerked her hips forward.

Kya's teeth closed around her earlobe as she slid her finger deeper on the next stroke. Its withdrawal and return were stubbornly subtle.

Lin gritted her teeth.

Now wasn't the time for this type of torture.

"_Kya_," she warned.

Kya's index finger rolled suddenly, roughly, over her clit and she gasped—then nothing but the same elusive caresses and Kya's breath on her neck.

"_Kya_," she pleaded.

She felt a familiar almost-tickle begin between her legs.

Trails of the slick evidence of her arousal drew together under Kya's fingers and started to thrum against her.

She brought her hand to her mouth and bit down on her palm as Kya buried her pulsating fingers deep within her.

There was none of the orchestrated torment of earlier; each thrust was butting against just the right spot, again and again, until her inner walls clinched suddenly, tightly, around Kya's fingers.

Pinpricks of light filled her vision as her body tensed from her jaw down to her toes.

* * *

><p>"<em>Breathe<em>, Chief."

She let herself melt—as much as it was possible for an earth bender to do—against Kya's chest and sucked in several deep breaths.

* * *

><p>It wouldn't hurt to stay like this awhile, she thought.<p>

* * *

><p>Lin was the first one awake as usual.<p>

She had her uniform in place and the water boiling for tea before anyone else stirred. The fact that Kya had woken up a few feet from where she had begun the night didn't seem to register with the others as they reluctantly started the day.

It wasn't until Tenzin cleared his throat somewhere near the end of breakfast that Lin began to panic.

"I don't know who it was . . . nor do I really care to," he started, fussing anxiously with the collar of his robe. "But a certain amount of," he trailed off, looking flustered as he searched for the right word. "_Restraint_ is necessary. For common curtesy—when traveling with a group."

His admonishment was mostly met with confused stares.

"Sure there is the novelty," he continued. "The allure of getting caught—"

Lin was seriously considering opening the earth beneath her feet and sinking into it, when Korra blurted, "It won't happen again, okay? Just stop talking."

Lin could have hugged the girl had she been the hugging type.

Tenzin's eyebrow reached an alarming height as Asami shrugged off Bolin's offer of a high five.

* * *

><p>Later, even Lin laughed when Kya elbowed her brother in the ribs and said, "Tell us more about that 'allure,' Tenzin."<p> 


	5. They'll Be Fine

**Prompt: Where was Kya during the finale?**

When the tired young water bender had appeared at their door in the middle of the night and announced, "We've finally reached someone at Air Temple Island," it hadn't loosened the hot knot of fear in Kya's chest.

Katara had just nodded and said, "You go."

It wasn't the first time in her life Kya had wanted to shake that calm, knowing smile off her mother's face.

Over the past week, she'd repeated "They'll be fine" like a mantra and Kya had wanted to believe her—she really had.

When she finally heard static give way to a familiar voice, she finally let herself hope.

"Hello?" the voice said.

"_Ikki_? Ikki, its Kya. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just some bruises."

"Who is it?" a muffled voice asked.

"Aunt Kya," Ikki answered, sounding farther away. "Hush. I can't hear."

There were other voices in the background now, a familiar to and fro of siblings jostling for attention and for a moment she couldn't speak, just rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek to stop the tears that had finally overflowed.

Then, once the damn had broken, the questions poured out: "Is that Jinorra and Meelo? Your father and Uncle Bumi? Did Pema and Rohan get out of the city before the attack?"

"We're fine, _really_."

"None of you were hurt?"

"No. The city's … mostly gone, though," another voice, still feminine but softer answered. "But, Aunt Kya, the portal's beautiful."

_Jinorra_. Kya laughed despite herself. Of course, her oldest niece would be enamored of the gateway to the spirit world.

"And Korra? Her injury didn't—"

"She's fine too. It's not like last time."

"_Everyone's_ okay?"

"Give it."

"Hey!"

There was a shuffling over the line and a brief silence. The radio operator exchanged a look with Kya.

"Your woman's fine, Aunt Kya!" Meelo's voice broke through.

The operator busied himself with some dials to hide a grin as a muffled argument broke out over the line.

"Who?"

"The Chief."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Tell Grangran I'll come visit as soon as I'm done rebuilding the city," Meelo ordered—and the line went dead.

The operator frantically rotated the dial but found only static.

Kya put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head, laughed and told him not to bother.

Her nephew had more important things to do.

* * *

><p>"They're fine. All of them."<p>

Kya didn't mind the smug look on her mother's face.

"I'm sure they could use as many healers as they can get," Katara said.

"And you don't make house calls anymore?" Kya teased.

"If you pack now, you can be on the first boat out tomorrow."

Kya was already making a mental list of what she needed to add to the bag she always kept ready.

"Peema will take care of Tenzin and the kids—and spirits know Bumi has dumb luck on his side—but make sure Lin doesn't try to rebuild the entire city herself."


	6. WTF

**Prompt: None but the fact that I was mad at Toph after "Operation Beifong"**

"What the flameo! How could you tell her like that?"

Kya shouldn't have been surprised that the blind woman who didn't so much as flinch when boulders were hurled at her didn't react to her sudden outburst. But, damn it, she wanted her to.

"I've never even heard of him," Kya rambled, shocked. "And, I mean, I was around."

Toph crossed her wiry arms behind her head. "Can't think of any reason I would have told a toddler the intimate details of my life," she finally answered flatly.

"_Kanto_. I've never even heard his name."

On her feet now, Kya paced the room and the questions poured out, rapid fire.

"Who was he? Did he know about Lin? Why wasn't he ever there? How did you meet? Was he an earthbender too? _Is he still alive?_"

_And if he were would Lin even want to meet him? _she thought. Lin hadn't brought it up in years but there was a time, when she was just a kid, that she'd been obsessed with finding out who her father was. That's probably when Detective Lin Beifong had been born, snooping around her mom's things when she was out, discovering that blind women—and honestly, no one had ever accused Toph Beifong of being the sentimental type—kept very few mementos, let alone incriminating love letters. Kya hadn't understood what the fuss was about at the time. She knew exactly who her dad was but that didn't mean he was _there_.

Toph's shrug stopped Kya's pacing cold. She could only ask, "Spirits, Aunt Toph. What did she say?"

"Not much. Probably made _that_ face."

Kya could imagine all too precisely what Lin had looked like—and knew how much Lin would have hated being that exposed if only momentarily.

"She couldn't have been 'okay,'" Kya spat. "Do you know what this means to her? _Do you even care?_"

Toph stretched her arms out, brought her hands together, and cracked her knuckles loudly.

If it were a warning, Kya didn't care.

"Of course you don't," she answered for her.

"_Kya._"

Up until now Katara had sat silently to the side and let her daughter vent. After all, hadn't she asked Toph many of these same questions herself decades ago? But she wouldn't let Kya suggest her old friend didn't love her girls—Toph just always had a strange way of showing affection.

Kya's attention shifted to her own mother, blue eyes narrowing sharply.

"Did _you_ know this whole time?"

Katara nodded.

"And Dad knew too?"

"It wasn't our decision to make, sweetheart."

"You lied."

* * *

><p>"Have I told you how much I enjoy your little visits?"<p>

"Have I told you how fat you've gotten since the last time I saw you? Besides, Lin should thank me."

"For the pleasure of being your daughter?"

"That too. But 100 yuans says Sugar Queen Jr is packing her bags for Republic City right now."


End file.
